Exercise equipment has been designed to facilitate various exercise motions, many of which incorporate both arm movements and leg movements. Examples of such equipment include elliptical exercise machines (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,242,343, 5,423,729, 5,540,637, 5,725,457, and 5,792,026); free form exercise machines (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,290,211 and 5,401,226); rider exercise machines (U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,603,486, 5,695,434, and 5,997,446); glider/strider exercise machines (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,940,233 and 5,795,268); stepper exercise machines (U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,690); bicycle exercise machines (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,188,030 and 4,509,742); recumbent cycling machines (U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,570); and other miscellaneous exercise machines (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,869,494 and 5,039,088). These patents are incorporated herein by reference as examples of suitable applications for the present invention.
Generally speaking, the foregoing exercise machines have arm supporting members and leg supporting members which are typically synchronized to facilitate a coordinated “total body” exercise motion. The synchronized motion is considered advantageous to the extent that it makes the equipment relatively easy to use. On the other hand, the perceived quality of exercise tends to exceed the actual quality of exercise because the arms typically perform very little work. In other words, the arms may be described generally as “along for the ride.”
In contrast to the foregoing machines, other exercise machines have been developed to provide independent upper body exercise and lower body exercise. One notable example is the NordicTrack ski machine (U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,102). On machines of this type, both the perceived quality of exercise and the actual quality of exercise are relatively greater. The trade-off is that many people consider such machines difficult to use, due to the independent nature of the arm motions and the leg motions. Recognizing that each of the foregoing types of total body exercise machines suffers certain shortcomings, room for improvement remains with respect to total body exercise machines.
All of the foregoing exercise machines are used primarily for purposes of aerobic exercise. Various other sorts of equipment are provided to facilitate anaerobic or strength exercise. In other words, a need also exists for exercise equipment that facilitates both aerobic and anaerobic exercise, and/or encourages users to switch between these two types of exercise.